Overcharging Issue

Location/place: Noida

Name of company/service: Airtel / LL+Broadband

I, Subhadip Das, and my spouse, Rumpa Das, have been residing in Noida (UP) since May-2010. In April-2011, we subscribed for an Airtel Broadband connection and were offered Airtel PC Secure Antivirus and Website Builder free of charge along with this connection. But since we were already using Norton Antivirus and won’t need Airtel PC Secure in future, we informed Airtel Customer Service that we won’t be requiring Airtel PC Secure. However, we were told that, as Airtel PC Secure is free, we can keep it lest we change our mind in future.

I have been using Airtel Mobile services for almost 7 – 8 years and have gradually grown a liking for Airtel, so much that I even subscribed for Airtel Landline and DTH services as well. On blind faith, I used to make the payments for the Airtel Broadband connection without even checking the bills properly. But from March-2013, when my wife started checking the Airtel Broadband connection bills, she noticed that for the first 2 months, Airtel PC Secure and Website Builder were free of charge, and after that, every month Airtel have charged us Rs. 250 for Website Builder and Rs. 100 for Airtel PC Secure.

I had all the bills till March-2013, but could not trace the bills for June-2012, July-2012 and August-2012. So I requested Airtel to send me the copies of the bills for June-2012, July-2012 and August-2012, which I never received (even though the status of the Service Request says that the bills have been sent by post & e-mail). So if I keep aside these 3 months’ bills, then the scenario is like this: Airtel have charged us for Airtel PC Secure till April-2013 and Website Builder till May-2012 (I couldn’t check further coz I don’t have the bills for June-2012, July-2012 and August-2012), and from September-2012 Airtel have not charged me for Website Builder and have given me credit of Rs. 85 per month on Airtel PC Secure from January-2012 to September-2012.

I don’t understand, why Airtel PC Secure and Website Builder were free of charge for 2 months, why Airtel suddenly started charging me thereafter for them, why Airtel suddenly started giving us discount of Rs. 85 for 9 months, and why Airtel have again started charging me Rs. 100 for Airtel PC Secure Antivirus, which we never used or installed. Finally, I registered complaints with Airtel regarding my grievances on 19th March 2013 (complaint no. 30240575) and on 11th April 2013 (complaint no. 3129772), and have stopped making the payments and won’t be doing so unless Airtel solves my issues.

Now recovery agent, Mr. ASHISH (of Gurukirpa Solution; mobile no. 7838387341; e-mail: [email protected]), is calling to get the payment, and he is saying that since I did not ask Airtel to solve the problem earlier, Airtel is not going to solve the issues. I asked him to give us any proof of any request made by us for Airtel PC Secure and Website Builder and show us any disclaimer that Airtel will not solve any overcharging case of an active connection if it is an old one but still active. Furthermore, Mr. ASHISH’s particularly offensive, insulting, threatening and rude behavior have increased our disappointment with Airtel. Without even trying to solve the issues in hand, he has been relentlessly threatening us to get my Airtel mobile no. barred and to embarrass us by informing my relatives in Kolkata for not making payments. So instead of solving the issues, he is constantly threatening us to make the payment.